The inventive subject matter described herein is generally related to the field of medical endoscopy and in particular to illumination systems for endoscopes.
In minimally invasive surgery and medical procedures, endoscopes are intracorporeally placed into natural or artificial passages, channels, and cavities of a patient, which may be a human or an animal. The more narrow an intended passageway or target site, the smaller the imaging system and illumination system must be to avoid trauma and invasiveness from the endoscopic system. Therefore, endoscopy systems generally have miniaturized imaging and illumination systems to allow for insertion to a target site. Because of the tiny size of the imaging systems and the insufficiency of light in the target site, illumination systems must be associated with imaging systems so that sufficient light is delivered to a target site.
Unfortunately, illumination systems that are effective at illuminating a small target site may not provide sufficiently bright or dispersed light for a larger target area. Therefore, in some procedures where there is a need to inspect or view variably-sized target sites, different endoscopic system must be used to provide target-specific illumination levels. This is problematic because using extra equipment means extra steps, extra risk of infection and trauma, extra costs, and extra burden on operating room spaces and resources.
One case that illustrates the foregoing problems is related to ureteroscopic procedures. A ureteroscope is relatively small so that it can get into tiny places, such as the small cavity of the ureter. The ureteroscope carries its own illumination source on its insertion end that is capable of illuminating the small cavity of the ureter and the renal pelvis. However, because of the small size of the ureteroscope, its illumination system does not sufficiently illuminate the larger bladder cavity, which it must negotiate on its way to the ureter. Therefore, currently, physicians performing a ureteroscopic exam or procedure must first use a relatively larger endoscope, called a cystoscope, to examine the bladder and access the ureteral orifice for placement of a guidewire. A cystoscope is used instead of the ureteroscope because it outputs relatively high illumination levels specific to visualize the relatively large bladder cavity. Once the guidewire has been placed, the cystoscope is removed. A ureteroscope is then placed on the guidewire, passed along the guidewire past the ureteral orifice, and used for the remainder of the procedure. The problem with this method is that the cystoscope and all of the attendant equipment required (light cable, different control box, other accessories) are used for a brief time during the procedure and then must take up a significant amount of space on the equipment table behind the physician. This also requires additional sterilization cycles for the cystoscopic equipment, even though it is only used for a short time.
Accordingly there is a need for improved endoscopic illumination systems that overcome the prior art by providing for staged illumination of different target areas having different illumination needs in an endoscopic procedure. There is also a need for more efficient systems that eliminate the extra equipment, steps, resources, risks, and costs associated with multiple endoscopic systems being used in a single medical or surgical procedure, such as the cystoscopic inspection that is now associated with a ureteroscopic procedure.